# sort(1)

## NAME

         sort - sort a file of ASCII lines

## SYNOPSIS

         sort [-bcdfimnru] [-tc]  [-o name] [+pos1] [-pos2] file ...

## OPTIONS

         -b   Skip leading blanks when making comparisons

         -c   Check to see if a file is sorted

         -d   Dictionary order: ignore punctuation

         -f   Fold upper case onto lower case

         -i   Ignore nonASCII characters

         -m   Merge presorted files

         -n   Numeric sort order

         -o   Next argument is output file

         -r   Reverse the sort order

         -t   Following character is field separator

         -u   Unique mode (delete duplicate lines)

## EXAMPLES

         sort -nr file       # Sort keys numerically, reversed

         sort +2 -4 file     # Sort using fields 2 and 3 as key

         sort +2 -t: -o out  # Field separator is :

         sort +.3 -.6        # Characters 3 through 5 form the key

## DESCRIPTION

         Sort sorts one or more files.   If  no  files  are  specified,  stdin  is
         sorted.   Output  is  written on standard output, unless -o is specified.
         The options +pos1 -pos2 use only fields pos1 up to but not including pos2
         as  the  sort  key,  where a field is a string of characters delimited by
         spaces and tabs, unless a different field delimiter is specified with -t.
         Both  pos1  and pos2 have the form m.n where m tells the number of fields
         and n tells the number of characters.  Either m or n may be omitted.

## SEE ALSO

         comm(1), grep(1), uniq(1).